School board mixed on raising dropout age

Published: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 06:28 PM.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to consider,” Cole said. She added, however, that the potential costs could be a strain given financial difficulties school systems are going through.

“I don’t ever want to see a child drop out of school,” Cole said, but needs and available resources have to be examined in the context of each other. “Right now, I’m not taking a position one way or the other.”

Board member Patsy Simpson said she hasn’t done a lot of looking into the potential impact of raising the drop-out age to 18, but, “I would be concerned about children being forced to stay in school … when they truly don’t want to be there.”

Simpson said she fears discipline problems could rise substantially if students are required to remain in school an additional two years.

Simpson said a better strategy is preparing students thoroughly during their younger years so that they are interested and successful once they reach middle and high school.

Board member Tony Rose said his initial inclination is against raising the dropout age.

“I don’t think that forcing kids to stay in school two years longer is going to equate to their getting an education if they don’t want to be there,” he said. Rose said he worries about those students being a distraction to other students and teachers.

Discussion this year about raising the school dropout age has come from sources as varied as President Barack Obama and school systems in other parts of North Carolina.

Among members of the Alamance-Burlington Board of Education, opinions are mixed on the idea of the state requiring students to stay in school either until they graduate or reach the age of 18.

Board member Steve Van Pelt said he would like for the state to consider raising the age at which a student can drop out, which is now 16. During a recent school board meeting, Van Pelt talked about a request from the Newton-Conover City Schools that the state require students to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18.

“For years, it’s been 16,” Van Pelt later told the Times-News. “It was 16 when I was in school.” Van Pelt is in his mid-60s.

Van Pelt grew up in the Kannapolis-Concord area and said students would frequently drop out to take a job in manufacturing. Often, he said, “They turned out to be pretty good workers,” though perhaps not academically inclined.

With few jobs available for non-high school graduates – and even fewer that pay well – “You’ve got to have a more educated workforce,” Van Pelt said. “I personally would like to see (the dropout age) raised. Why let kids drop out of school and commit economic suicide?”

School board chairwoman Jackie Cole said she’s not ready to come out either in favor of or against the idea.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to consider,” Cole said. She added, however, that the potential costs could be a strain given financial difficulties school systems are going through.

“I don’t ever want to see a child drop out of school,” Cole said, but needs and available resources have to be examined in the context of each other. “Right now, I’m not taking a position one way or the other.”

Board member Patsy Simpson said she hasn’t done a lot of looking into the potential impact of raising the drop-out age to 18, but, “I would be concerned about children being forced to stay in school … when they truly don’t want to be there.”

Simpson said she fears discipline problems could rise substantially if students are required to remain in school an additional two years.

Simpson said a better strategy is preparing students thoroughly during their younger years so that they are interested and successful once they reach middle and high school.

Board member Tony Rose said his initial inclination is against raising the dropout age.

“I don’t think that forcing kids to stay in school two years longer is going to equate to their getting an education if they don’t want to be there,” he said. Rose said he worries about those students being a distraction to other students and teachers.

Rose thinks offering courses in as many areas of interest to students as possible – he mentioned digital media and architecture as examples – is a way to keep students in school. The system’s new Career and Technical Education Center is a good move in that direction, he said.

While Rose stopped short of saying he would never support raising the dropout age, he said, “I’d have to have more evidence that it would work.”

During this year’s State of the Union address, Obama called for all states to raise the dropout age to 18. The New York Times reported at the time of the address that 21 states already set the dropout age at 18, with 11 requiring school attendance until 17.